ATTACKS IN GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 24160, 24 June 1940, Page 5

ATTACKS IN GERMANY

NAZI FACTORIES RAIDED AIRCRAFT WORKS ARE HIT TRAINS COMPLETELY WRECKED (Bi’itish Official Wireless) (Received June 23, 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, June 22. Important German aircraft factories and storage buildings were attacked last night by heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force in a series of raids lasting nearly one hour and a-half. At Bremen the attack was directed against the large FockeWulf aircraft works. The first bomber reached the target five minutes before midnight and .in the bombardment that followed hits were registered in the centre of the factory buildings and two violent explosions were observed. Fires started at various points of the aerodrome which adjoins the works and a hangar was extensively damaged.

The objective at Kassel was the Fieseler aircraft works and in the course of the attack several bombs were seen to fall on the target. Hangars were damaged at Rothenburg, as well as an aerodrome and military buildings.

An aircraft storage depot at Gottingen was also considerably damaged by high explosives dropped by another attacking force. Another bomber attacked the aerodrome at Huntlosen, south-west of Delmenhorst, which was clearly visible in the moonlight, and set alight to a number of aircraft lined up on the west side of the base. Heavy bombs were also seen to burst on the runway.

Aerodromes to the north of Hamburg and at Kassel were also successfully attacked. RAIDS ON JUNCTIONS Simultaneously with these attacks other squadrons of heavy bombers were engaged in raids on railway junctions, marshalling yards and oil depots in north-west Germany. In the course of them six supply and ammunition trains between Osnabruck and Bremen and near the town of Rheine were wrecked by direct hits from high explosives. A salvo of bombs dropped by raiders on a goods train at Furstenau north-west of Rheine completely wrecked it. A direct hit was made with a heavy bomb on the station at Ohrtenesche and when a second bomb hit a goods train standing in the station severe explosions followed. The first explosion was followed by a series of minor explosions for 15 minutes, as though ammunition wagons were igniting. A fierce fire resulted. One mile north of Lemforde station, on the line from Osnabruck to Bremen, pilots of bombers saw two trains near one another moving in opposite directions. Several attacks were made, aS a result of which both trains were wrecked. Another squadron of bombers attacking a station at Lingen, an important junction north-west of Osnabruck, made direct hits on a goods train standing in it. Krupps works at Essen, as well as railway sidings nearby, were bombed by another section of the raiding force and several hits were registered on the factory buildings.

A large oil storage depot near Hanover was subjected to high level att&cks* A Berlin message says that the German News Agency says that British air raids on Cologne and its suburbs on the nights of June 18 and June 19 resulted in six killed, including three police. Dusseldorf newspapers report that 10 are dead and numbers wounded. There was considerable damage to private property as a result of the Royal Air Force bombing on the night of June 19. Enemy aircraft concentrated at aerodromes in Germany, France and Holland were attacked by bombers of the Royal Air Force throughout Thursday and in the early hours of this morning. PLANES AT ROUEN The first attack was directed against the aerodrome at Rouen, where, in the course of a previous raid, more than 25 enemy aircraft had been observed and several destroyed.. In Thursday’s raid more than 400 incendiary bombs were scattered over the whole of the target area and one salvo of high explosives falling among four twinengined aircraft on the tarmac set two of them on fire and, no doubt, severely damaged the others. Twin-engined aircraft dispersed round the edge of the aerodrome were also hit and other bombs fell directly on the hangars which were being speedily completed by the enemy. A few hours after this raid another squadron of bombers attacked Schipol aerodrome at Amsterdam, from which enemy bombers are believed to operate against England. More than 80 bombs were observed to burst among the aircraft on the tarmac runways and near the hangars on the south-east side of the aerodrome before the antiaircraft guns were able to get up an effective barrage.

Another enemy-occupied aerodrome in Holland attacked in the course of the night’s operations was the Haamstede aerodrome on the island of Schouven, where bombs were dropped on the target despite the fact that the raiders were opposed by batteries of heavy guns in a nearby village. Shortly after midnight a formation of heavy bombers attacked aerodromes at Paderborn, between Cassel and Munster, and dropped nearly 200 incendiary bombs, besides high explosives on hangars and sheds in which aircraft and equipment were housed. Several direct hits on hangars were followed by explosions and fires. Salvoes of bombs were also observed bursting along the edges of an aerodrome where aircraft were dispersed. | The Munster aerodrome, which had been already damaged in a series of recent raids, was again attacked and at another aerodrome bombs were seen to burst near 14 big sheds, many of which were set alight. Raids on railway junctions and goods

yards in north-west German were also made. At Hitzaker, 50 miles southeast of Hamburg, large works were subjected to a 10-minute attack during which a salvo of bombs fell across a building which was soon hidden by clouds of smoke. Eight hits were registered on marshalling yards at Ludwigshaven and at Osterfeld a large military storehouse on the wharfside was seen to collapse a minute or two after the first salvo had been dropped. An Air Ministry bulletin contains further details of the bombing and wrecking of a big new Nazi gun emplacement by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. The aircraft, led by a young Canadian, swept down on the target, dive-bombing in the face of tremendous fire from heavy artillery and antiaircraft guns. One aircraft was shot down, but all the others returned safely. i AEROPLANES ATTACK BERLIN (Received June 23, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, June 23. It is officially admitted in Berlin that several enemy aeroplanes attacked the city but were driven off before they reached Greater Berlin. The Berlin radio admits that Royal Air Force machines were in the neighbourhood of Berlin last night. It says that one aeroplane dropped incendiary bombs outside Berlin on non-military objects, including a hospital. There was only slight damage. Three men and three women were injured. Bremen was also attacked with high explosives and incendiary bombs. Two civilians were slightly hurt and the damage was slight. The radio later admitted that nine were killed and a number injured during a British air raid on Essen on Thursday night.